White Noise
by Hypnos.GodOfSleep
Summary: What truly happens when light touches the darkness? Is it a soft caress between lovers, or a silent slit of the throat? Is the darkness only transformed, or does it fade into oblivion?
1. Chapter 1

Jack could finally kick his feet up and relax on the sleigh ride home with the knowledge that he was now believed in by others. Something he had always thought would never happen, but dreamed of every day of his life. Now he finally found peace within himself throughout all those years.

Jack looked up at Man in the Moon with wondrous blue eyes. "Alright, world," he said to the open sky without a care. "I'm ready for anything you throw at me." He really shouldn't have said that...

A week went by. Then, two.

Jack ended up visiting each of the Guardians' dwellings often. He would do this in the hopes of creating a bond with the four of them.

Tooth Palace was tranquil, listening to the soft flutter of Baby Tooths' buzzing into the skies. The beautiful Tooth Fairy and her feathered array of colours danced around joyfully as usual, assuring every fairy completed their tooth collecting tasks flawlessly. Occasionally, she would stop and chat with Jack. And bit too closely…but he didn't mind.

The Warren wasn't ideal for Frost, but he visited Bunny as much as he could without making either one of them feel uncomfortable; he always gave the fuzzy, petulant rabbit his space, and held back every remark to poke fun at Bunny's toothpick-legged egg friends. Ultimately, they ended up enjoying each other's company for a little while.

Although Jack was slightly displeased that he wasn't able to visit The Sandman's kingdom of dreams in person, Sandy helped him out by putting him to sleep so that he may experience it through his mind's eye. It was a wonderland of amber silt, and slumber. It felt as if he were lucid-dreaming, interacting with a new world—almost like a different planet floating somewhere off in the cosmos.

The Workshop was ultimately Jack's favourite place to relax, holding many memories of when he first stepped foot into that beloved toy factory. It was warm on the inside with a hint of gingerbread and sugar cookies jumping around in the air, and the comfortably freezing tundra of the North Pole on the outside; very cozy for Jack Frost.

The clanking of metallic contraptions, the muttering of busy Yetis, and the soft jingle-jangle of the tiny, rambunctious elves echoed across the openness to the high ceiling. North was currently up in his office having a private conversation with Tooth. Jack sat next to the window peering out to the other side.

"I wonder what they're talking about..." he said to the open air. Ever since he'd arrived, they had been talking about something, and behind closed doors. What could have been so important that they had to keep whatever they were talking about to themselves? Jack's thoughts weren't the act of nosiness, however. At the moment of his arrival of the Workshop that day, he'd felt strange, having no idea why. As if something was out of place. But nothing could have been wrong. It had been two righteous weeks with peaceful nights so far...

He stroked the glass on one corner allowing new born ice swirls to stretch across it to the other side. Peering out through the icy texture, something in the back of his mind made him want to go outside. He heeded his sudden urge and flew to the roof top's peek.

Jack tapped his staff in a rhythmic pattern along the roof as he stepped. He hummed to himself a tune his mother sang to him when he was a child. Looking up at Man in the Moon, he sighed and couldn't help but to ask, "Manny?...We won the battle. Why do I feel this way? I feel kind of... _anxious_ , I guess." Jack looked away. "Why am I asking you this when I know you won't answer anyway?"

A voice chimed in Jack's ears just then. Could it be?

Jack looked back at Manny with eyes widened.

"Did you just—" He couldn't believe it. "No way..." But he did. He spoke to him. In over three hundred years, he finally heard his voice at last. But what he told him wasn't what Jack wanted to hear.

P...P-Pitch?" Jack stuttered. "What about him? Is he back?!"

" _S..."_ he whispered. The rest of his words were too distorted to understand.

"Yes, what is it?"

" _Sa...hi..."_ The voice was strongly phantom-esque, almost like listening to the song of a ghost. At first, Jack couldn't grasp what he was saying. But then, the voice pieced itself together.

" _...Save him..."_

"What?!" He nearly dropped his staff from shock. "Did I hear that right?—No! I can't! I can't possibly—Why would you want me to do that?! After all that he'd done?! He nearly destroyed the world and you want me to..." But then a sudden thought came to him. "Wait...What's wrong with him?"

Man in the Moon didn't say another word.

"Seriously, Manny?" He rested his staff over one shoulder and sighed. "So, something's wrong with Pitch Black…The most evil man alive." He turned around and walked the other way. "And you're telling me I need to help him out with no explanation." He continued, "Well, you know what? He deserves whatever is happening to him. I'm not lending a hand to the devil."

What Man in the Moon did next made Jack jump in fright with hair standing on end.

What sounded like a lively crack of thunder plunged the ground with a loud rumble. Jack gripped his staff tightly until his knuckles were white, and stood steadily atop the roof so he wouldn't slip. Frankly, that was one of the most sudden and surprising moments Jack Frost has ever encountered. It was almost comedic.

He rolled his eyes and sighed again. "I swear..." But there was no arguing with the being that made him what he is today. He replied sourly, "…Fine. I'll go see what's up with him—out of my own curiosity. But that's _all_ I'm going to do."

As much as he didn't want to, Jack flew off into the night without telling anyone where he was going. It was better that way.

In search for the hole Pitch had been dragged down into, he scoped the grounds of Venice, Italy. Once the crevice was spotted, Jack stepped up to it and peered down its dark, bottomless shaft. It still gave off the feeling of dread as it had the first time he came across it. He listened hard to the sounds echoing up from down below. The distinct sound of terror-filled screams made its way up the opening to Jack Frost's ears. They gave of a notion of ghostly terror; reflecting the wails of the damned.

He stepped back a bit. For a moment he was...concerned. However, he quickly withdrew from the feeling.

"It's _Pitch._ Don't you dare feel that way...Just pop your head in to see what's up, then leave." Jack groaned softly and dropped into the darkness.

The cries emanated from deep inside the cave-like formation. As Jack stepped deeper inside, he could now pin-point where they were located. From afar, he could now see Pitch, but he wasn't nearly as intimidating as he was before. He was currently cowering in a corner fronting the wall, face collapsed into his hands. Equine entities surrounded him at every glance.

Quietly, he stepped through the blackness until he was about twenty feet from his target. Now being close enough for the creatures to attack, Jack gripped his staff ready for a fight. However, the nightmares proved to show great cowardice and backed away once they felt Jack Frost's presence near, but still watched dormant in the shadows.

Now with the path clear, he focused solely ahead of him inching his way closer to the infamous Pitch Black with great caution.

Pitch no longer looked like himself _._ It had been weeks since the nightmares had dragged him below. And now his entire body was no longer black as deep space as it was always meant to be. It had become lighter do to the excessive fright and panic he suffered, now giving off a deep silvery sheen.

Jack reached out to him, but once his fingers were close enough to graze his arm, he stopped. Dread more eminent than ever, Jack's hand shook from stress. What was he about to witness?

A sharp breath entered Jack's lungs—he swallowed his fear and grabbed for Pitch's arm. But once his hand scarcely caressed his skin, Pitch screamed and spun around to face him.

Jack's heart sunk.

The beast's golden eyes held the most torment one simple being could muster, almost like two lost souls sunken into perpetual sorrow. This was possibly what Manny meant. No one, maybe not even The Bogeyman, deserves this much misery.

"Pitch, it's okay," He took in a quivery breath. "It's okay now, I'm here. The nightmares won't come near us now. I'm not afraid of them."

There was a pause in the air.

To his surprise, Pitch Black flung himself at Jack. He wasn't even able to lift his staff in time to protect himself. Pitch's arms wrapped around Jack's shoulders, encasing him. Jack hadn't realized for several moments that what he was doing wasn't harmful. It was nothing more than a pitiful _embrace_.

"...Why are you here?..." Pitch's voice strained, without letting go.

"I came to save you." Even though he hadn't wanted to. But now seeing the mighty Bogeyman trembling in the fragile arms of Jack Frost made him think, maybe he needed to. "I'm going to get you away from the nightmares. I just need to get you to the surface."

The horses behind Jack stomped their hooves and trotted with ire trying to figure out a way around Jack to get to Pitch, but refused to come any closer. Pitch kept as close as he could to Jack, making their way through the red-eyed spectral wave. They guided each other all the way to the exit and up to level ground.

Once successfully on the surface, Jack, commanding Pitch to look up with him, gazed at the white shine of Moon Man.

"Take in his energy," Jack told him. Pitch slowly but surely looked up. The Man in the Moon gazed back at him. Pitch was unsure of what to say. "Just breathe."

Normally, Pitch was more than happy to avert his ears from demands. But he did as he was told, knowing that whatever Jack Frost was trying to do was better than what he'd suffered through up to that point.

The spacey blackness that was his cosmic entity—his trademark lustre—slicked back into existence. Like paint strokes on a canvas, starting from his bare feet the gloom worked its way up. His eyes were the last to change, setting back to the gilded hue they had once been. Pitch Black had transformed right before Jack's eyes in a matter of mere seconds.

"It's…" Pitch began, his voice also returning to its polished, enigmatic musk, "…quite breath-taking…Isn't it?"

"Yes," Jack agreed, but for a different reason, not taking his eyes off Pitch. "It truly is."


	2. Chapter 2

A familiar tone of voice and the soft flutter of wings could subtly be heard riding the wind.

"Jack!" the voice of Tooth called from afar. Her shadowed silhouette passed over the brightness of the moon's surface like a wisp, and dove down toward him. Why had she come looking for him?

Despite the darkness, the moon shined down upon her beautiful feathers, making them dance with soft colour. The closer she came, the more Jack wanted her to stay away. Tooth held the very apparent expression that something was wrong and Jack had no intention of finding out what it was.

"Please…" she began in her soft tone of voice as she hovered to him, heavy-hearted, "please, tell me what you're doing isn't what we think."

Jack sighed, "Tooth, listen—" But before he could get out another word, suddenly, Bunny sprung up from a newly formed rabbit hole only a meter or two away. He leapt up onto his large hind legs, stomping on the ground in a furious manner.

Through his teeth, he exclaimed, "Explain yo'rself, Frost!"

"Guys, please! It's not what it looks like!—Why did you come find me, anyway?"

"We were tipped off by a few o' Tooth's lit'le helper's," said Bunny, holding his boomerang tightly in a fist. "Tellin' us you were visitin' Pitch's lair. 'It's not what it looks like,' ay? Sounds awfully fishy to us, Mate."

"Bunny…" Jack's heart fluttered. He hadn't realized the severity of not explaining himself first before disappearing into the night. But frankly, he didn't expect anyone to actively come looking for him. "…it's not what you think. I _had_ to help Pitch. Manny—"

"Help?! _Pitch?!_ Mate, what'a'you tryin' to pull here?" Bunny, and even Tooth Fairy at this point, had become agitated.

"Nothing! Man in the Moon told me to. He told me—"

Bunny's look of ire made Jack pause. Tooth only stared with sorrow in her rouge-coloured eyes.

"Aye don' believe this…" Bunny stepped away and rubbed his temple. Turning back, he continued, "You _actually_ expect us to believe that Moon Man _spoke_ to you when you kept goin' _on_ and _on_ about how he hadn' done that _exact thing_ for over three-hund'ed-years? But _now,_ of all times, he spoke to you, and he's tellin' you to help th' man we work'd so hard to defeat?!"

Jack's mind went blank having nothing to say to that. Honestly, he had a point. There was no going back and fixing what he had wronged. "…I don't expect you to believe me. I understand if there's no convincing you…"

It was this moment that Pitch decided to chime in. As he stepped forward, he proclaimed, "Maybe, _I_ can."

Both Bunny and Tooth backed away in shock as Pitch Black stepped closer revealing himself from the shadows.

"O-oh, yeah?" Bunny's voice was shaky, possibly from surprise, or maybe panic seeing as The Bogeyman was now feeling better. "W-well tell us, then!"

Pitch didn't waste a moment.

"I would believe him, if I were you. I'm sure your little Jack Frost wouldn't lie to you after all you'd been through." He stepped even closer. The Guardians stood their ground. "What makes you think he'd come all the way here out of his own will? For me? And after all I'd done to him?"

"W-Why should we believe _you,_ ay?"

"Tell me, Bunnymund—Would you really turn on Jack that quickly? If so, you're not a very good friend, now are you? Much less a 'Guardian'." Bunny's eyes widened at his words. "Aren't you supposed to be the Guardian of Hope? From your attitude, it seems to me you don't have much _hope_ at all."

His expression filled itself with wrath as he provoked, " _Ay_ , you take that back, you _cun_ —"

"Bunny!" Thankfully, Tooth cut him off before finishing. She took in a deep sigh. What Pitch had said just then made sense to her. Softly, she told him, "As crazy as it may sound, Pitch is _right…_ We shouldn't turn on Jack so easily." There was no objecting to Tooth's true words, and he lowered his head.

Jack was thinking hard to himself as he watched the crossfire between good and evil. Pitch, The Bogeyman, was _helping_ him keep the trust between himself and the Guardians. And the burning question on his mind was… _why_? He was the lord of nightmares and _deceit_. He had nothing to gain from this. So, why do it?

Tooth drifted over to Frost, wearily. Her disillusioned eyes, pools of pink tears, stared into his. The way she looked was heart-breaking, until a trustworthy grin spread across her soft face.

"Yo're right, Tooth." Bunny stepped forward. "It's _you_ , isn' it? Pitch…You're tryin' to turn us agains' Frost again? What for?"

Pitch straightened his posture and placed his arms behind his back elegantly.

"I have nothing to prove. If that is what you think, then so be it."

"Why _else_ would he be here tryin' to defend you? Don' you have better thin's to do than bother us?"

"What is this nonsense? A game of blame?!" Pitch drew out a fatigued sigh. His eyes looked around inquisitively and he alleged in a poetic manner, "Try as we might is the sword that we write the wrongs that need righting…Drivel."

Bunny held back the urge to curse at the man. However, holding himself back from doing so, he pointed out something peculiar.

"You hadn' been tryin' to attack us like usual," he noted, suspicious. "We know you—You never pass up a chance to throw a punch. Wher' _are_ yo'r precious lit'le ankle-biters, anyway?"

The images of the nightmares crept back into Pitch's thoughts, and with a curl of the wind, Pitch's expression transformed from kingly intimidation to indigent fear.

The ground shuttered.

As if on command, a black eruption disgorged from the pit the dark entities, flooding nightmares into the night sky. The sounds of hell emitted around them in a brutal ring of demonic cacophony.

Pitch Black's jaw slowly dropped open as he gazed into the peppered skies. Bunny and Tooth began shouting, but their voices were muffled by the nickering of the black stallions. He could have sworn he heard Moon Man's voice as well, only adding to the chorus of screams…

Jack did the only thing he could think of at that moment; knowing Pitch Black was earthbound without his black sand—the same as Jack without his staff—he grabbed Pitch by the arm, forcing him to hug his back, and with a boom of Wind, rocketed off to the east before the nightmares had the chance to swallow him into their sudden tidal wave of devastation.

As they flew, the murky snake-formation wasn't far behind.

"Pitch!" Jack shouted, hoping he could hear him through the blasting wind, or would even listen to what he had to say. "You have to stop being afraid! It's the only way!" He remained silent. "What is it?! What are you so afraid of?" Outright refusing to speak, he buried his face into the back of Jack's hoodie.

Like a game of cat and mouse, the young Jack Frost and the powerless Pitch Black flew from the nightmare storm through clouds, trees, and buildings alike in an attempt to cut them off, giving the two of them a little more leeway. But the creatures trudged on, and weren't going to rest until they had their prey.

" _Please_ …" Jack begged. He didn't expect to get much of a reply when he heard Pitch mutter something under his breath.

"I'm afraid…" he whimpered. It was terrifying hearing the dismal cry of the mighty Nightmare King.

"Tell me, Pitch. Of what?"

Jack bent the wind away from their faces to lighten the noisy air just enough so that Pitch's voice could be heard.

"To lose…"

Jack opened his mouth to criticize his remark as an egotistical thing to be afraid of, although it made sense why he was dragged down below in the first place. But before he could get out a single word, Pitch continued, his deadened words flowed away into the wind, "…my family."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack had no time to react before Pitch's grip loosened, beginning his free-fall hundreds of meters to the ground below. What surprised Jack was, not that he had let go, but it felt like he had let go on _purpose_.

Pitch dropped like a small stone plunging into the ocean as he surpassed the tree tops, forcing Jack to lose sight of him.

As he dove below the treeline, he searched for his dark silhouette; surely he would have been able to find him easily amongst the snow…But he was nowhere to be seen.

Tears formed in Frost's eyes as soon as he landed, but for unknown reasons. He hadn't felt sad, or angry. But he did feel _scared_ for what felt like the first time since...

Jack walked the grounds for a few moments where Pitch Black assumingly landed calling out his name. With each shout, he grew more anxious. And as each second passed without a sign of him, he began to think, Did he just _disappear_? He went over in his head as soon as he caught a glimpse of Pitch's descent, like skimming through the individual frames of a videotape. He saw him for a split second before he broke the treeline, but _knew_ where he had to have landed.

"He _has_ to be here," Jack shouted to himself, unnerved. "He just _**has**_ to be here!" Jack Frost's breathing became erratic, from irritation. Unable to keep them back, the tears that had been welling up in his ice-blue eyes rolled down his cheeks one after another.

Soon enough, his mind began to wonder.

Jack thought back on something he had never dreamed of wanting to think of again. Pitch had reached his peak, conjuring enough power to kill off Sandman. Whilst Sandy was heroically fighting off Pitch's sand minions with his dream whips, taking them out without effort, a perfect strike of a blackened arrow to the back unexpectedly ended his life. The black sand swallowed him whole and he dissipated into nothingness.

Pitch and Sandy were practically the same entity, only with opposing orthodoxies. If Sandy went the way he did—without a trace—then no doubt that Pitch could have done the same.

These thoughts, however, only made Jack feel worse.

"No," he commanded, "He can't be gone…No! He can't be gone, _no_ , _**no**_ _!_ —"

Still looking around with his tear-stricken eyes at the blankness, something within Jack snapped.

He lifted his head and screamed to the world. Raising his staff high over his head, he slammed the tip end of it into the ground, emitting a loud crack of frozen fractals that stabbed outward like daggers in a glorious, yet horrific, jagged snowflake. Doing this, it flattened countless meters of land around him of snow and small plant life.

Jack knelt down with his staff still upright; the very end of it was embedded in a swirl of ice caused by his strike of wrath. Tears were now streaming down his face, but he didn't make a sound. His heart dropped heavily in his chest not knowing what to do.

What did Pitch mean? What did he mean when he said…

Family.

That word sounded so alien, yet it was oddly _heartwarming_ coming from the lips of the King of Nightmares. Piecing the dark entity that is Pitch Black to anything soft or loving felt bizarrely comforting in a way. It was as if the combination brought the mighty Bogeyman down from his hellbent throne, making him more relatable. More…human.

Jack didn't recall how long it had been before Tooth Fairy's gentle hand brushed up against his back. He was curious to how she had gotten to him so quickly…Jack refused to look up at her, but she didn't pry for conversation. They remained silent for an unknown amount of time.

"He said something," Jack Frost whispered; it was almost too soft for Tooth to hear, "before he fell…he said…something about family."

Tooth said nothing.

Jack had to pause in between sentences to build enough energy to speak again, "He said he was afraid to lose his family. But awhile back, he said he didn't have any…I remember we spoke briefly, when we were in Antarctica. He mentioned he knew what it was like to ' _long for'_ …a family…But just now, he said he was afraid of losing it? I just don't understand…"

Another temporary silence passed and finally Tooth spoke. But not the words Jack was expecting to hear.

"You remember that?" she asked in a softened tone. The voice was deep and had a strong accent; clearly not belonging to that of Tooth Fairy. The person being Bunny was unlikely because he felt a distinct _human_ hand resting on his back. Suspicious, he turned his head—and leapt away from Pitch Black, startled beyond thought.

Too many questions jumped around in his mind.

"W-where—H-h-how—" Jack's tongue was in a knot; he was unable to get out a single word. Shaking his head to disperse the shock from within him, he let out a quivery breath. As Jack gazed at him, it only made him think of how much Pitch resembled a black and white photograph. Completely washed out; opaque. "Are you…"—he stared in awe and confusion—"…okay?"

Pitch's face puzzled as if he wasn't quite sure why he asked such a question.

"Y-you fell. From…" Jack pointed up at the sky, but failed to complete his sentence. Something occurred to him just then—Where were the nightmares? They seemingly had vanished leaving behind the beautiful pink sky of sunrise. There was nothing now but only the rolling clouds and the tips of the trees brushing in the wind.

"I don't recall falling," Pitch began. He gave off a befuddled expression as his bright eyes pondered, "but I do remember our conversation we had…" Suddenly, the memories flashed back into Jack's mind one by one; almost tossing the tooth box off the cliff, the fight between Jack and Pitch creating a disturbing, yet charming sculpture of ice and black sand, Pitch's speech about family—It all flooded his mind like being caught in a strong tide and pulled out to sea. "…And I see you remember, too."

* * *

Pitch's gaze dropped to a purple flower, a single Saponaria, struggling to stay standing half a meter in front of him. He brushed the snow from it in which was weighing it down and gently pushed it back upright with his pinkie.

Without taking his eyes off it, he began dispirited, "…I think I've lost my way."

Jack, climbing to his feet, stepped over to him and knelt in front of the tiny blossom. He waited only a moment before speaking.

"Why do you think that?" he asked. Pitch said nothing at first. It was as if he didn't know why he felt that way. But as the correct words loomed into his mind, things begun to make less sense.

"I don't know who I am anymore," he replied, the grief breaking through in his voice. It almost hurt to say that to the measly Jack Frost. He would never have explained any of this to Frost on a normal day, however continued on, knowing there were no other ears to listen otherwise. "I've been burdened this charade for so long…I have lost sight of my purpose."

Jack tried thinking of something to say at that moment. However, he wasn't quite sure what to say in a situation like that one.

"Well," Jack pondered, "the good news is the nightmares seem to not be bothering you anymore?" He pointed to the open sky. "I don't know how, but I guess I wouldn't question a good thing."

Pitch Black objected to this swiftly.

"No," his deep English tone muttered. "It's not quite so simple." He looked back up at Jack finally taking his eyes off the violet bloom, "Do you remember what I did to your staff? In Antarctica?"

Jack's face perplexed in thought. His staff?

He thought back to just after the fight; to save Baby Tooth from the grasp of The Bogeyman, he traded his staff for her. Then, Pitch snapped it over his knee. At that moment, what he felt in his chest wasn't pain, but it felt like his heart had been ripped out. What remained was the undeniable erosion of emptiness without a purpose. He was _physically_ shaken when it happen.

Jack grabbed his chest in remembrance and grimaced. Why would he bring that up?

"I took your powers from you," he explained without a beat skipped.

Thinking deeply on the matter, it made sense why what had happened, happened at all. Wind was no longer there to lift him away, and ice fractals no longer carried its harmony on his fingertips. Moon Man's cosmic energy was what made up Jack Frost's crux. And without his very essence to keep him whole, he was merely a husk. Jack remembered wanting nothing more than to curl up with Baby Tooth and fall asleep forever.

Pitch then looked up at the brightly lit sky, inviting Jack to look as well. He continued, giving the undeniable answer, "And you just took mine."


End file.
